Erica & Wes are homeowners!! ^_^

In front of our wonderful home!

Yup, yup, my husband and I now own a lovely three bedroom, one and a half bath, two car garage dream home. Buying a house was so incredibly easy and I have nothing but glowing reviews for our realtor and mortgage lender. I always thought it would be a difficult process because that's all I've heard from other homeowners and that's how it is portrayed in movies & on reality house-hunter shows. I was completely shocked at how quickly the entire process went and, honestly, it was more stressful after we bought the house than during the buying process (moving in, unpacking, fixing things here and there ... that was the stressful part!)

Our lease was set to expire on August 1st so on May 1st we started house hunting. We drove around and searched online for potential homes. We mostly did this so we could get an outline of what we wanted in terms of amenities, location and pricing. We decided on a budget and three "must haves" for our home. I wanted a sewing room, Wes wanted a two car garage and we both wanted a nice back yard for the dogs, and that was it. We approached everything else with an open mind.

We got a recommendation for a realtor from some friends of mine. Wendy with eXp Realty was absolutely amazing! I would highly recommend her to anyone who is looking to buy or sell a house. In my opinion, she really cares for her clients and is not afraid to fight for them (aka she has no problem being the "bad cop") and she was also not afraid to be honest with us. She got us moved into a house in less than two months. We took two tours with her--I think we only looked at about 12 houses total. The first tour consisted of houses of all different price ranges, neighborhoods and features. She really listened to our feedback on each of the houses that she showed to us. The next list of potential houses that she sent to us was spot on. Our second tour went a lot better than the first and we found our top three homes. From the top three, we picked our favorite and Wendy went to work for us.

Everything was smooth sailing between our realtor and the sellers' realtor. I'm sure it is hard work behind the scenes, but for us, it was the easiest process ever. While this was happening, Wes got a new job with insane overtime hours, I started a new position within my current company and I also battled the stomach flu. Regardless, Wendy was willing to work with our schedules and met us several times in the evening. She kept in touch by text & email and all we had to do was e-sign a few documents here and there. There was a little back and forth between us and the sellers after the inspection but it all worked out in the end.

Another great component to our home buying process was our mortgage lender. Wes' place of employment recommends First United Mortgage Group to all of their employees. We were very impressed with our Junior Loan Officer, Beau. I definitely recommend working with him. Like Wendy, he kept us abreast of all developments via text & email. The loan application and approval process was a little more difficult than our relationship with Wendy but still much less of a headache than I thought it would be. Honestly, the only hurdles we encountered were with First United's underwriting and legal departments toward the very end of the process (and Beau had nothing to do with the mishaps we were faced with). There was some miscommunication between us and a few other employees at the First United office but Beau remained courteous and professional throughout the entire process.

Closing day came on July 21st. I was both nervous and excited. Everything else up until then went so smoothly, I was almost expecting something crazy to happen on closing day that would ruin our entire experience. But that was not the case. Closing on the house went as well as everything else...easy as pie! Wendy and Beau met us at the title company with smiles, congratulations and housewarming gifts in hand. After signing about fifty contractual documents, we officially became proud homeowners.

And I am happy to report that my sewing room is all set up and I am ready to get back to work at RagsReborn. Fall and Holiday craft show seasons are quickly approaching! I have over 20 craft shows lined up for September, October, November and December... I might be a madwoman. Let's just say I am an ambitious small business owner with drive. More on the craft show line up in upcoming blogs!

Erica advises against renting at Coventry Cove apartments.

** For all of you new readers, this is my first "angry customer" blog post. I've never written a sour Yelp review rated any business less than 5-stars on Facebook but I feel as if this negative review of Coventry Cove is completely warranted.**

Unit 205 D has been my home for the past four (almost five) years. Its a great apartment complex if you ignore the staff. For what its worth, management changed about a year ago and the new apartment manager is a zillion times better than the old one ... but there is still room for improvement. If your apartment never has any maintenance needs and you like to be left alone, Coventry Cove is great to rent from. But, if you need any assistance from the staff, good luck on getting them to cooperate.

The location is absolutely wonderful. It is located in a quiet and friendly neighborhood just outside of Nichols Hills. The apartment complex is close to Interstate 235, Downtown OKC, the Western Avenue shopping and dining district, the Chesapeake campus and Whole Foods grocery store. It is also only a 3-minute drive to the office I work at. That is the number one reason why I have lived here so long.

When I first was apartment hunting, the manager at the time, Terry, told me that she didn't have any current openings but if I didn't need to move in immediately, she would have an opening in a few weeks. She assured me that the Notice to Vacate was already submitted & approved so the unit would be available soon. She didn't give me an exact date but I was so enamored with the location of the apartment and cheap rent that I forgot to ask.  I told her that I would stop my apartment hunting and check back in with her in a few weeks. She said that wasn't necessary; I could complete all of the paperwork now because she was 100% certain that a unit would be available for me, and if I didn't complete the paperwork immediately, the unit could be gone because she had a long waiting list. So, like any other naive twenty-something, I signed and paid my deposit. It was over a month before I could move in. Every time I contacted Terry to get an update, it was one excuse after another. The tenant decided not to move out, the apartment needed cleaning, her carpet installers rescheduled. Luckily, my mom let me stay with her during this awful time so I didn't have to be homeless.

Unit 204 B was my home for about 9 months.

Within a few months of my moving in, my downstairs neighbor knocked on my door one evening and scolded me for my barking dog. This lady was elderly and she talked to me like I was a 13 year old delinquent. I had Kensington at the time and he was pretty rambunctious but he never ever was loud enough to cause complaints. I apologized and then slammed the door on that bitch. LOL The next day, an extremely rude note was tacked to my door. Then a week later, Terry called me to tell me that my dog is causing too much noise and she has received "several" complaints. She also told me that if I didn't do anything about it, I would be evicted. This was my first complaint. No one gets evicted on their first complaint. Instead of arguing, I asked if one of us could move. I had no problem moving into a different unit if Kensington was causing my neighbor so much distress.  Terry agreed to move me as soon as a unit was vacant. While we were waiting for my move,  both my neighbor and Terry took turns bullying me and Kensington. The harassment lasted about a month.

How could any one hate on this adorable dog??!?!

Not long after that was taken care of, Wes moved in with me. We are law abiding tenants so I went to the apartment's leasing office to get him officially added to my lease. Terry did not know how to complete any of the necessary paperwork. All she did know how to do was ask for another application fee. *eye roll* The following year, Wes tried to renew our lease and he was no where to be found on any of the documents! But he was added last year! And we paid you another $50! How hard can it be to amend the lease to add another tenant? I imagine he had to go through the entire process again but I was at work that day and took no part in Terry's stupidity.

Home sweet home.

Not long after Wes moved in, our storage unit got broken into. The lock was completely destroyed and all of my boxes were thrown out. The boxes were empty but I was saving them just in case we needed to move again. Someone had thrown all of their junk into our storage unit. Wes & I each went to the leasing office to report this. When Wes spoke with Terry, he found out that Randy, the maintenance technician, was given permission to commandeer the storage unit. Management assumed the unit was not in use. She did not apologize for this misunderstanding. Then as Wes was leaving, he heard Terry mutter under her breath that she did not understand what the big deal was because, although all tenants are given one storage unit, she uses all four of the storage units in her block of apartment units and none of her neighbors ever complained.

Our completely destroyed lock that we found on the floor of our storage unit.

The next day it was my turn to talk to Terry & Randy. I expressed my concern that we were broken in to (which was a crime! theft! unsafe! burglary!) They were not taking this issue seriously, so I asked how either of them would feel if their storage unit was broken in to and all of their belongings were thrown in the garbage? I also asked why Randy would see a lock on the storage unit and then assume it was not being used by a resident. He claimed that he asked me and I told him to go right ahead and just tear our lock off. Why not Randy, I love a good robbery! When I informed him it was not me, he said that maybe it was Wes who granted him permission. I asked when this conversation took place because we don't remember it happening. Neither of them had any answers for me, nor did they apologize. Instead, they just accused me of overreacting and shooed me out of the office.

Later that day, I called National Property Management Associates (NPMA), the company that owns Coventry Cove. I explained our situation and although it could have just been an error in communication from both parties, Terry & Randy were not being helpful in resolving this issue. NPMA called Terry and then Terry called me. She did not call with a resolution. She did not call to apologize. She called to scold me; she raised her voice and verbally chastised me for calling NPMA. She claimed that she has been in apartment management for over twenty years and she has never once gotten a complaint, therefore she could not believe that someone like myself would even dare to call in a complaint. After a little back and forth, she agreed to remove Randy's belongings from our storage unit, purchase a new lock and some plastic storage containers to replace the ones that were thrown out. Still no apology, though.

Ever since that day, Terry never spoke to me again. She wouldn't even look at me when she passed me walking my dogs. Luckily, she retired soon afterward. The new apartment manager, Susan, is a bazillion times better at management than Terry. She sends texts & emails with apartment updates, she keeps Randy on top of his maintenance work orders and she even tries to plan fun activities for residents. But, unfortunately, she isn't any more efficient with paperwork. When we got Athena, I went to the leasing office to add a new dog to our lease. She told me we cannot have three dogs. I told her that we have one dog, Sadie; Kensington died in 2014 and I called the office at that time to notify her. I had assumed she had noted this on my lease and would return my second pet deposit upon move out date but, no, she didn't note a damn thing (there goes my $50) but at least she did not charge another deposit for Athena. In both 2015 and 2016, I had to take responsibility to go to the leasing office to ask her for a lease renewal because she was unaware that it is part of her job to present these to residents.

When we were ready to move out, I went to the leasing office on June 30th. Our lease expired on August 1st so I wanted to be sure to place my thirty day Notice to Vacate. Susan curtly informed me that Coventry Cove requires a sixty day notice so I could not move out on August 1st. I curtly replied that neither myself nor Wes was ever informed of this policy. She rummaged around to find our contract, turns to the page and points to the paragraph. Then, as if I was illiterate, she takes a highlighter to mark the sentence stating "residents need to provide a sixty day notice" and shoves the document in my face. Really? Where is your professionalism?

I told her that I understand the contract but what I did not understand is that if residents have to give a sixty day notice to vacate, why did management not need to give residents sixty days to renew? "It is June 30th," I told Susan, "and I have not received any lease renewal or new rental rates. I was unable to make an informed decision sixty days in advance." She simply said she was too busy to bother with providing renewal notices. I told her that I also was too busy to be bothered but at least I am trying to do my due diligence. She ended up allowing us to move out on July 31st. She probably also then promptly placed my name on the Do Not Rent list. LOL Our final apartment walk-through went well (except that we need to get the carpet replaced and I'm almost certain that we will not be getting our deposit refunded because carpet can be expensive) and we are renters no more... we have a house now! The first time home-buying process was wonderful (hardly stressful at all)! More on that in next week's blog post.

Erica & Lacey relive our emo days.

AFI!! All of the pictures on this blog post are of AFI since I really didn't care for the two opening bands.

Back in 2004, my best friend, Lacey, and I bonded over emo music and dreamed of dating guys who wore eyeliner. We weren't exactly part of the emo crowd--we weren't edgy enough--but, oh, how we loved to watch from the sidelines. I've gotten less and less edgy in my old age but Lacey is still hip enough to keep up with the music scene. So when she found out that the band, AFI (one of our favorites a decade ago), was coming to town and invited me to go with her, I said, "Sure, why not?" As soon as we got to the concert venue, I discovered exactly why not... I am old. LOL Very, very, old.

AFI at 10:10...can you believe that?!? Who even stays up that late anymore? Apparently the young'ens do. 

At age 32, Lacey & I were among the oldest in attendance. Do you remember hearing those "you know you're old if..." jokes as a kid? Well, they are actually pretty true. Here are a few you can make fun of us for...
     * Our first concern was that AFI wasn't starting their set until 10:10pm! That is entirely past my bedtime. And if they didn't start until that late, lord only knows what time we'll actually make it home! We were genuinely worried that we might fall asleep before we could watch the band we came to see. It wasn't looking good as I started yawning around 9:30pm. The band must have somehow sensed our concern and actually came on stage a little early (at 10pm). Thank goodness!
     * The style of dress from the early 1990s is making a comeback and we actually remembered dressing that way as a kid. Remember wearing long t-shirts with short denim shorts and choker necklaces? That's a thing again. We realized that instead of having "flashback 1980s day" for school fundraisers, the young'ens nowadays are having "flashback 1990s-dress day".
     * We actually found ourselves complaining about the noise (do the speakers need to be that loud?...we couldn't hear each other talk.), strobe lights (too blinding) and temperature (too hot, too many sweaty bodies, yuck) of the concert venue.
     * But we did fully appreciate the cleanness of the public restrooms.

How did Davey Havok manage wear a jacket in this stuffy room?

Besides those few chuckle worthy complaints, the concert overall was rather enjoyable. I can say that I still like angsty rock music after I initially fell in love with it almost fifteen years ago. The first opening band was Citizen (from Ohio... that's how they kept referring to themselves as, "We're Citizen from Ohio"... there must be a lot of bands named Citizen from various states). After every song, they would stop and thank us for listening to them. It was a nice gesture at first, but then it felt overly appreciative and almost desperate. Lacey suggested that maybe they get booed off stage a lot so they were very happy that we were still a captive audience. Another thing that happens when you get old... you turn into a cynical curmudgeon. Hahaha!

During the set change, the concert venue played a compilation of Outkast's greatest hits over the loudspeaker. We enjoyed the throwback tracks but wondered if anyone else in attendance ever even heard of Outkast. I seemed to be the only one singing along to Hey Ya! 

Trying out our best "we're badass emo girl" faces. Please note our back shirts and eye make up. We are so hard core!

The second band to play was Circa Survive. They were a crowd favorite but Lacey & I had never heard of them *insert "you know you're old if joke" here* I thought the lead singer's use of auto-tune made him sound like Ozzy Osbourne sucking from a helium balloon. It was during their performance that we started to complain about the lighting. The strobe lights were very impressive but maybe overly so. I turned to Lacey and told her I couldn't look at that stage because the lights were blinding me. Maybe I needed to bring in my sunglasses.

                     I would have gotten pictures of the entire band but only the lead singer was up close and personal. 

Lastly, was AFI... the awesome emo rockers that we stayed up so late to see. They did not disappoint! At first we were worried that we wouldn't recognize their songs because they have released a lot of new music since we first listened to them. But, they played mostly their old songs from the Sing the Sorrow and December Underground albums (the ones that Lacey & I knew by heart). Besides playing our favorite songs, the best thing about their performance was that each member of the band stood on a riser so us short kids could view them, too. (^_^) Although I was tired and my legs ached from standing all night, I jumped up & down and scream-sung the songs along with the rest of the crowd. We left our old lady complaining behind and felt young again for an hour. I think that's the great thing about music; its something you can just immerse yourself in and forget about your worries for a while. But then my ears rang the entire way home. Ugh... old age. LOL

Last AFI picture.

RagsReborn Gifts' origin story

One of my favorite podcasts is NPR's How I Build This. On each episode, Guy Raz interviews the creator/CEO of a successful business. He's interviewed the creator/CEO of Instagram, Southwest Airlines, Kate Spade, Zumba and countless others. Throughout the interview, he asks how the idea for the business was conceived, the high and low points of the journey and whether or not the interviewee believes in luck. Its always an interesting conversation and I've learned a lot. The best part is that at the very end, the show chooses a current entrepreneur to interview. They're always asking for idea submissions so I decided to submit for RagsReborn Gifts.

If I was selected to talk about RagsReborn, my origin story would go a little like this...
       RagsReborn Gifts was conceived in the summer of 2014 following two events. The first was my boyfriend (at the time, now husband) moving into my tiny one bedroom apartment with me. We had too many clothes and not enough closet space. We desperately needed to scale down our wardrobe! We both had articles of clothing that we didn't want to toss out but also weren't wearing much anymore. I had an idea to sew the t-shirts into decorative pillows for our couch. They turned out great and I would get compliments from our guests.
       In the following months, I began having problems with my health. I was diagnosed with severe endometriosis and rendered infertile. Also around that same time, everyone I knew was getting pregnant and gabbing about how wonderful their life has become because they would soon be parents. I felt as if my life was becoming more and more insignificant compared to those of mothers. After a short battle with depression, I decided that I too would give birth... to a creative small business that I was passionate about. That is when RagsReborn was, well, born.
      No, I absolutely do not believe in luck. No famous artist or successful entrepreneur has ever just become that way because a fortune cookie told them they would. I have never been lucky. Everything I have ever accomplished, I've had to work for. And I think that's the way it should be. You get so much more satisfaction knowing that you built this and you grew that. So if there is such a thing as good luck, then I'm glad I don't have it. I would rather pour my blood, sweat and tears into a project I truly believe in to make it happen.

Erica goes to a Luminess Airess makeup party.

I've been to an Arbonne party and I've been to a Mary Kay party and now I've also been to a Luminess Airess party... the Luminess Airess party was by far the most fun of all of the makeup parties! My friend Melanie is a Luminess Airess consultant (https://luminessairess.com/melanie). She joined the business in April and in two months, has already become an airbrush makeup professional! Luminess Airess has natural, mineral- and water-based products that are affordable and easy to use. Their cosmetics are hypoallergenic, paraben- and fragrance-free, and completely filler- and oil-free.

The reason why I enjoyed the Luminess Airess party so much was because there was no presentation; no pressure to purchase a makeup kit and no pressure to join the direct sales business. It was just friends, snacks and makeovers, and the cosmetics spoke for themselves. I did end up purchasing a lip gloss and some makeup remover wipes but Melanie never once asked if I was going to purchase anything or tried to shove a catalog in my purse. She was super laid back and just wanted to show us gals how amazing the products are. Everyone in attendance could choose to receive a free airbrush makeover.

Alan (aka fiance of the year) went first. Although I do not know many men who wear makeup, I would recommend brow and root tint. She used it to cover the grey in his beard. The color blended into his natural beard color and you couldn't tell that the tint was being used. I told Alan he looked ten years younger! LOL I also told him that he could color in his beard for their wedding photos. "Great idea, Erica", we all agreed :)

I made Alan a fantastic pipe-cleaner tiara. 

Not long after Alan's makeover, it was my turn. Melanie expertly blended shades #3 & #4 (I think they were #3 & #4 at least) and went to work. The Luminess Airess system is an airbrush device. The hand device looks like an artist's airbrush. It hooks up to this power supply box. The makeup is liquid and is poured into the hand device, then you turn on the power to the desired speed and spray the liquid makeup onto your face. Sorry if the description is confusing; I should have gotten a picture of it. When the makeup is sprayed onto your face, it feels like a cool mist. It felt a little awkward at first (because it wasn't used to it) but then it became relaxing. Think of it like having a mini fan on your face on a hot day. Melanie started with a liquid primer, then the foundation, eye shadow and blush. Last was their famous lip stain. I chose the color "Fancy". The lip stain totally worked! I was drinking wine at the time and none of it came off onto my glass.

Alan & I were transformed into pretty princesses! I hadn't put on the lip stain at the time of the picture. 

I was impressed with the makeup; it felt light and didn't smudge. And my entire makeover only took about 15 minutes! I would say that it lands in the professional makeup spectrum. I did not purchase the airbrush kit because I do not wear that much makeup (I actually wear as little makeup as possible and just enough to look like a living female instead of a half-dead zombie). I thought I looked glamorous with the makeover. It would be perfect for a special event or a night out on the town. I would totally recommend the Luminess Airess airbrush system for anyone who lives a fierce and fashionable lifestyle.

My closeup! Sorry about the resting bitch face. LOL 

RagsReborn's summer craft show review and quick break.

Quick break?? What...no more summer craft shows for RagsReborn? Yeah, you read that correctly. I won't be participating in any more craft shows until September. All of the worthwhile shows in June, July and August are outdoors and I was just not made for the heat in Oklahoma. I participated in a few indoor shows last summer but they were not well received. Not wanting to make that mistake again and deciding that I, in fact, do need a break, I'm giving myself a few months to relax and work on new projects. But never fear if you need something sewn, I am always open to custom orders (ragsreborngifts@gmail.com) and I have pick up & delivery for the metro Oklahoma City area. I also will be posting all of my products on Etsy.

All set up and waiting for customers at The Village Fair. Sadly, none showed up. Notice that the other vendor behind is also bored and reading a book. 

This summer, I participated in only three craft shows. Two were great and one was NOT. The show that I would not recommend is The Village Fair. The idea behind The Village Fair was great - lots of great vendors with a variety of products, food trucks, live entertainment (a talent show), inflatable bounce houses and a fire truck for kids to climb on. But The City of the Village and fair coordinators did absolutely ZERO advertising. Toward the end of the day, a few city workers were tearing down the vendor tents. One asked me how the fair went. I lamented the lack of attendees and the city worker confessed that there was no advertising this year. He stated that last year, the city printed & posted flyers in all the nearby storefronts and had large banners & yard signs. But this year, no one knew that all these great activities were being set up over the weekend so no one showed up. It was RagsReborn's worst show of the year, unfortunately. If it wasn't an automatic donation to the Metropolitan Library System, I would say that it was completely not worth my time & money but I love the library and was happy to donate toward it. What I really felt bad for was the kids participating in the talent show because they practiced for months only to perform to an empty audience. Anyway, you're probably thinking I'm just mad because I didn't have any sales. Nope, not true. Toward the end of the fair, the head coordinator came to each vendor's booth and apologized for the lack of attendees and told us we could pack up and leave early if we wanted to. She knew it was a bust and was giving up on the fair even before it was over! I told her that I appreciate the empathy but wondered why no one knew about this fun event. She had no answer for me when I questioned the lack of advertising. She only advised that I voice my concerns on The City of the Village's Facebook page. I did later that evening but no one ever replied (this was almost a month ago).

The other two shows I participated in was Junk Utopia and the craft show held at OU Health Sciences Center library. Junk Utopia is put on by Revolve Productions. I absolutely love working with Tobi and her crew. They always put on a great show! The problem I ran into this time around is that the show wasn't the right fit for RagsReborn. I thought "junk utopia" was a cute whimsical name for a craft show... nope, it literally was a utopia of junk. LOL Antiques, vintage items and refurbished furniture everywhere! The shoppers weren't in the market for anything else. I still sold some and had a pleasant day (I am in no way complaining or saying this was a bad show) but I think I'll pass on the next Junk Utopia show.

Stuffed baby elephants were the best thing to happen to me in 2017!

 RagsReborn did great at the craft show held at OU Health Sciences Center library! The only reason I did so well is that I finally faced reality and made & brought new items at lower price points. Pillows were great. At first, I only wanted to sew pillows. I would sew other items as custom orders but I had a vision that RagsReborn would be the vendor to buy pillows from. When a shopper wanted a pillow, they'd come straight to my booth and I'd be their girl. Two or three years ago that's exactly what happened, everyone was into decorative pillows. But, that was two years ago... now everyone has already either bought all the pillows their house can hold or they want to decorate with other items. I also started noticing more and more people unwilling to pay $10 for a pillow. Not to be rude but, I have to say that I price my pillows very fairly. The cost covers my materials, booth rent and fee to list online. I do not pay myself a wage for time & labor. Therefore, I am unable to offer any discounts. Sorry guys. Anyway, I quickly realized that I needed to diversify for 2017. I'm still sticking with my handmade and sewn theme but I'm starting to sew other things, such as stuffed animals, which ended up being a huge hit! (And they're priced lower than my pillows!) I brought stuffed elephants, messenger bags, neck pillows, regular pillows and wallets to the craft show held at OU Health Sciences Center library and sold a nice variety of items

So on that note, I will leave you with an open ended discussion. What do you think RagsReborn should sew for the fall and holiday craft show seasons? Here are some ideas I've been toying around with- more stuffed animals, maybe whales and giraffes to go along with my elephants, bows and headbands, bookmarks, any other ideas? I'm open to any suggestions. I can't wait to show you what I create! Stay posted for fall and holiday craft show schedules in the upcoming months.

Erica makes a hanging plant holder.

Happy Monday and ... guess what? I'm finally writing another DIY arts n' crafts blog post!! I haven't written one since last Christmas. 'Bout time, right? LOL This idea comes from a client of mine. She stopped by my Wanderlust show to drop off a shirt that she needed to be sewn into a pillow for a birthday gift. As we were chatting, she asked if I've ever made hanging plant holders. I hadn't so she showed me the quick 30-second Nifty or Buzzfeed (don't remember which one it was so I can't properly cite my source) video from Facebook. These plant hangers are all over Etsy and are super cute for summer home decor. I looked at a few other pictures and told Betsy, "Sure, I can do that!" So here we go... seven simple steps to turn an old t-shirt into a hanging plant holder.

Upcycled T-Shirt Hanging Plant Holder Tutorial-
       Materials needed: gently worn t-shirt (or any other knit or jersey fabric), scissors and sewing machine or needle & thread

1. Cut the t-shirt or fabric into eight 1 -1.5 inch strips.
       *For a plant holder, make sure each strip is at least a yard in length. (It looks like a lot but the strips will shrink as you start tying them into knots.)
       *For a growler bottle holder, strips can be shorter - about 24 inches.
a) If making multicolored plant hanger, cut all the different materials into equal length and sew together for desired total length.
b) If adding separate colored fabric for tassels at the bottom, cut those at 12 inches each.
c) If adding separate colored fabric for braided handle, cut 6 strips at 22 inches each.

2. For tassels ONLY - gather the top of all eight strips of fabric together and place the tassels pieces in between the eight pieces. Sew together by hand (unless your sewing machine is heavy duty and can sew through all of the layers.)

Then tie a single knot at where the strips of fabric and tassels meet. This knot is for decorative purposes only since the pieces are already sewn together. I tied my single knot exactly where my stitching was in order to hide it.

If you are not adding tassels, gather all eight strips of fabric together at one end and tie together in a single knot at the base. Leave a few inches (or any desirable length) hanging loose under the single knot.
This will be the bottom of your plant holder. You'll basically be making the project upside-down.

3. Lay the tied piece of fabric out on a large surface with the knotted end pointing toward the top. Separate the eight pieces into four pairs. Tie each pair into a single knot, i.e, piece A will be tied to piece B, piece C will be tied to piece D and so on and so forth.

4. Separate the middle six pieces into pairs and tie into single knots again, as in step #3.

5. Tie the two remaining outer pieces into a single knot.

Now the project should look like a basketball net without the opening at the bottom. You should be able to fit a round object inside of the project, if not, untie the knots and start over (sometimes the spacing between the knots is too big/small or the pieces got tangled and the knots don't end up in the correct position).

6. Hang the project onto a hook and continue to gather the fabric pieces into pairs and tie the pairs into single knots.

I found it easier to "dress" a household item with the project while tying the knots. This helps with gathering the pairs and tying the single knots equal distance to each other.

7. For braided handles ONLY- tie the handle pieces to the loose ends of the project with a single knot. Then braid the handle pieces and tie together at the top. If you are not wanting to add a braided handle, tie the loose ends together to finish the project.

And there you have it! A fun and trendy project you can make basically for free and in less than an hour. They're great for hanging pots, bottles, planters and bowls of all sizes as the spacing can be adjusted by tying the knots closer together or further apart. If you would rather someone else make a hanging plant holder for you, well, I'm here for ya! I won't be adding these to my craft show project line up but if you want one, please let me know (ragsreborngifts@gmail.com). I can make them as custom orders and I'm only charging $5 each!

Here's the one I made for a client. She's really pleased with it and her plant fits perfectly!